MUMBAI: Reliance Industries' telecom upstart Jio is footing at least 40 percent of the cost of its basic 4G phone, two sources familiar with the matter said, as it bets on recovering the investment by luring in millions of new customers.

The JioPhone, rolling out this week for a refundable deposit of Rs 1500, will cost at least Rs 2500 to assemble, the sources told Reuters.

That means Jio will likely carry more than $150 million in costs for every 10 million JioPhones it sells.

And the company aims to build a subscriber base of between 250 million and 300 million users in the next two years, said one of the sources.

Reliance Industries did not respond to a request for comment.

Some Reliance investors may flinch at the cost of subsidies, but the scale of the outlay is a clear signal of the level of Jio's ambition, as it targets an audience of some 500 million who still cannot afford smartphones in India.

Jio's advanced voice over LTE (VoLTE) network only works with 4G enabled devices, inaccessible to many even at subsidised rates. The significantly cheaper JioPhone, however, will open the Internet to a less affluent segment of Indians for the very first time.

"The 3,000-rupee smartphone was not cutting it," the second source said. "Reliance is making a bold attempt with this phone and data will be the key driver for them."

Analysts estimate a majority of Indian feature phone users have an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 50 or lower. JioPhone's Rs 153 monthly plan for so-called pre-paid users aims to drive up this ARPU, the first source said.

Jio, backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has amassed more than 128 million subscribers since its launch last year, by offering free voice and cut-price data for months.

Over half a dozen wireless carriers compete for market share in major Indian cities, but Reliance, the first source said, sees the telecom market being winnowed down into a three player market with just Jio and current leader Bharti Airtel and the Vodafone-Idea combine likely left standing.

The JioPhone is currently being manufactured in China, based on a unit reviewed by Reuters, but Reliance is likely to tap the likes of Foxconn and Flextronics, which have facilities in India - to assemble it in the country, a Reliance executive told Reuters previously.

The phone's chipset, being supplied by Qualcomm and China's Spreadtrum, is likely to be its most expensive component while batteries are likely to cost $3-$4, the first source said.

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By Sankalp Phartiyal

MUMBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries'telecom upstart Jio is footing at least 40 percent of the costof its basic 4G phone, two sources familiar with the mattersaid, as it bets on recovering the investment by luring inmillions of new customers.

The JioPhone, rolling out this week for a refundable depositof 1,500 rupees ($23.05), will cost at least 2,500 rupees ($39)to assemble, the sources told Reuters.

That means Jio will likely carry more than $150 million incosts for every 10 million JioPhones it sells.

And the company aims to build a subscriber base of between250 million and 300 million users in the next two years, saidone of the sources.

Reliance Industries did not respond to a request forcomment.

Some Reliance investors may flinch at the cost of subsidies,but the scale of the outlay is a clear signal of the level ofJio's ambition, as it targets an audience of some 500 millionwho still cannot afford smartphones in India.

Jio's advanced voice over LTE (VoLTE) network only workswith 4G enabled devices, inaccessible to many even at subsidisedrates. The significantly cheaper JioPhone, however, will openthe Internet to a less affluent segment of Indians for the veryfirst time.

"The 3,000-rupee smartphone was not cutting it," the secondsource said. "Reliance is making a bold attempt with this phoneand data will be the key driver for them."

Analysts estimate a majority of Indian feature phone usershave an average revenue per user (ARPU) of rupees 50 or lower.JioPhone's 153 rupees monthly plan for so-called pre-paid usersaims to drive up this ARPU, the first source said.

Jio, backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, hasamassed more than 128 million subscribers since its launch lastyear, by offering free voice and cut-price data for months.

Over half a dozen wireless carriers compete for market sharein major Indian cities, but Reliance, the first source said,sees the telecom market being winnowed down into a three playermarket with just Jio and current leader Bharti Airteland the Vodafone-Idea combine likely left standing.

The JioPhone is currently being manufactured in China, basedon a unit reviewed by Reuters, but Reliance is likely to tapthe likes of Foxconn and Flextronics, which have facilities inIndia - to assemble it in the country, a Reliance executive toldReuters previously.

The phone's chipset, being supplied by Qualcomm andChina's Spreadtrum, is likely to be its most expensive componentwhile batteries are likely to cost $3-$4, the first source said.(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by MuralikumarAnantharaman)

* CLOSE BROTHERS: British lender Close Brothers Group reported a 13percent rise in full-year adjusted operating profit, driven by strength in itsbanking, asset management and market making divisions.

* COBHAM: British defence supplier Cobham on Tuesday named PaulKahn, the former Airbus UK boss, as president of its communications andconnectivity sector.

* THOMAS COOK: Tour operator Thomas Cook said on Tuesday it hadentered into a strategic partnership with Switzerland's LMEY Investments to growits own-brand hotel portfolio, as it confirmed its full-year outlook.

* UNITED UTILITIES: United Utilities Group Plc said it expectsunderlying operating profit and revenue for the first half of the year to behigher, helped by regulatory changes.

* ANTOFAGASTA: Tighter copper supply and an increase in refining capacity intop-consumer China should result in lower treatment and refining charges(TC/RCs) by smelters, the chief executive of Chilean miner Antofagasta Plctold Reuters.

* EASYJET: Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to concludetalks with Lufthansa and easyJet on a carve-up of its assetsby the middle of next month as it races to secure jobs and keep flying.

* PREMIER OIL: CATS Management Limited (CML), a UK gas infrastructurecompany owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, will invest 135 million pounds($181.99 million) to build the infrastructure for Premier Oil's Tolmountgas field in the North Sea.

* TESCO: Three former senior executives of Tesco accused of fraudand false accounting at Britain's biggest retailer appeared on Monday in aLondon court. Opening arguments are expected from Wednesday.

* HSBC: A former top HSBC Holdings Plc executive threw his Scottishclient "under the bus" by using his knowledge of its large planned currencytransaction to do his own trading first, a U.S. prosecutor said on Monday at thestart of a closely-watched trial.

* BRITISH BANKS: British banks have underestimated the risks from a surge inconsumer borrowing and need to hold an extra 10 billion pounds of capital toguard against future dangers, the Bank of England said on Monday.

* BREXIT: British and EU negotiators talked up hopes for progress on Brexitas a new round of talks began in Brussels on Monday, days after Prime MinisterTheresa May tried to revive the process and improve the mood.

* BREXIT: Britain will honour its financial commitments made during itsmembership of the European Union after it leaves the EU, but that deal must belinked to an agreement on future economic ties, Britain's chief Brexitnegotiator said.

* U.S./NORTH KOREA: North Korea's foreign minister said on Monday PresidentDonald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserved theright to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. bombers even if theyare not in its air space.

* GOLD: Gold held steady on Tuesday after rising over one percent in theprevious session, supported by safe-haven demand amid rising tensionssurrounding North Korea and as the dollar eased from near three-week highs.

* The blue chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.1 percent to 7,301.29 points onMonday, pulled away from a one-week high as losses among heavyweight financialsand commodities-linked sectors weighed. The index underperformed a slightlypositive European market following the result of the German general election.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

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> Financial Times

> Other business headlinesMultimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:* 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com($1 = 0.7418 pounds)(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru)

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Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 9points lower on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers. * ANTOFAGASTA: Tighter copper supply and an increase in refining capacity intop-consumer China should result in lower treatment and refining charges(TC/RCs) by smelters, the chief executive of Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc told Reuters. * EASYJET: Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to concludetalks with Lufthansa and easyJet on a carve-up of its assetsby the middle of next month as it races to secure jobs and keep flying. * PREMIER OIL: CATS Management Limited (CML), a UK gas infrastructurecompany owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, will invest 135 million pounds ($181.99 million) to build the infrastructure for Premier Oil's Tolmountgas field in the North Sea. * TESCO: Three former senior executives of Tesco accused of fraudand false accounting at Britain's biggest retailer appeared on Monday in aLondon court. Opening arguments are expected from Wednesday. * HSBC: A former top HSBC Holdings Plc executive threw his Scottishclient "under the bus" by using his knowledge of its large planned currencytransaction to do his own trading first, a U.S. prosecutor said on Monday at thestart of a closely-watched trial. * BRITISH BANKS: British banks have underestimated the risks from a surge inconsumer borrowing and need to hold an extra 10 billion pounds of capital toguard against future dangers, the Bank of England said on Monday. * BREXIT: British and EU negotiators talked up hopes for progress on Brexitas a new round of talks began in Brussels on Monday, days after Prime MinisterTheresa May tried to revive the process and improve the mood. * BREXIT: Britain will honour its financial commitments made during itsmembership of the European Union after it leaves the EU, but that deal must belinked to an agreement on future economic ties, Britain's chief Brexitnegotiator said. * U.S./NORTH KOREA: North Korea's foreign minister said on Monday PresidentDonald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserved theright to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. bombers even if theyare not in its air space. * GOLD: Gold held steady on Tuesday after rising over one percent in theprevious session, supported by safe-haven demand amid rising tensionssurrounding North Korea and as the dollar eased from near three-week highs. * OIL: Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday, with Brent crude hitting a26-month high, supported by Turkey's threat to cut crude flows from Iraq'sKurdistan region to the outside world. * The blue chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.1 percent to 7,301.29 points onMonday, pulled away from a one-week high as losses among heavyweight financialsand commodities-linked sectors weighed. The index underperformed a slightlypositive European market following the result of the German general election. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets * UK CORPORATE DIARY: Universe Group PLC Half Year Animalcare Group PLC Full Year Mortgage Advice Bureau Half Year Premier Technical Services Group PLC Half Year United Utilities Group PLC Trading Statement Close Brothers Group PLC Full Year Personal Group Holdings PLC Half Year Ebiquity PLC Half Year Transense Technologies PLC Full Year Faroe Petroleum PLC Half Year Card Factory PLC Half Year AA PLC Half Year Carnival PLC Q3 Thomas Cook Group plc Trading Update Time Out Group PLC Half Year A.G Barr Plc Half Year Moss Bros Group Plc Half Year TODAY'S UK PAPERS > Financial Times > Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com($1 = 0.7418 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru)

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PARIS/FRANKFURT: The battle over how and where Europeans charge their electric cars is expanding from the continent's cities to its motorways.

Power utilities, tech start-ups and oil majors are fighting to establish themselves as the dominant players in the fast-growing business of charging stations – but advances in electric vehicles means where they build them is changing.

Refuelling conventional petrol and diesel cars on motorways has long been the domain of the oil companies, which typically have their own networks of filling stations. Several are now talking about setting up high-power charging networks, creating major competition for limited space at motorway service areas.

"It is a bit of a landgrab now to win this sector," said Tim Payne, chief executive of British charging start-up InstaVolt, which has raised 12 million pounds ($16 million) to install 3,000 charge points across Britain by 2020.

While the range of electric vehicles (EVs) was less than 100 km (60 miles), Europe's utilities were happy to help cities and companies install slow and inexpensive charging points at homes, offices and shops, often supported by state subsidies.

But Tesla, Porsche and BMW are now making battery-powered cars with enough range to drive across countries. Daimler and Volkswagen also announced plans on the eve of this week's Frankfurt motor show to accelerate their shift to electric cars.

Charging infrastructure remains nowhere near it needs to be. "Where is the network of charging points that will be required? Indeed where is the power and the grid?" Ralf Speth, boss of Britain's Jaguar Land Rover, asked last week.

Experts including ChargePoint and Engie are, however, making plans to build pan-European networks of high-voltage fast-charging stations which can refill a battery in less than half an hour instead of overnight.

In Britain, InstaVolt is renting land from filling station operators, bringing them additional revenue from the lease as well as the increased traffic to their shops at the sites. It earns a margin by selling power through the chargers.

InstaVolt struck a deal in May with ChargePoint, which itself is on a $125 million expansion spree in Europe, to install about 200 of the U.S. group's ultra-fast chargers close to popular roads across Britain.

FACTBOX - From refuelling to recharging

UP FOR GRABS

Morgan Stanley estimates that 1-3 million public charging points could be needed in western Europe by 2030, adding that while utilities have natural skills in the new industry, it was too early to determine who will come put on top. "The winning business model is up for grabs," it said.

Today, there are fewer than 100,000 public charging points available in Europe, with only about six percent of them fast, according to the International Energy Agency.

Almost none of these is super-fast, a term usually used for charging stations with an output of at least 150 kilowatts. More than three times faster than current-generation chargers, they are now being targeted by those trying to become market leaders.

Contenders include Dutch EV-Box, one of Europe's biggest makers of charging stations, which was snapped up by French utility Engie in March.

"We expect hundreds of millions of annual revenue from EV-Box in a few years," Thierry Lepercq, head of innovation at Engie, told Reuters. He sees Engie's EV charging revenue growing by a factor of 20 in three to five years. Last year, EV-Box had sales of 16 million euros ($19.1 million).

EV-Box Chief Executive Kristof Vereenooghe said that unlike most of its competitors EV-Box has been profitable from the start, a claim that makes it stand out in an industry where gaining scale is considered more important for now.

That's why German utility E.ON, too, announced a strategic partnership with Danish startup CLEVER and said it had the ambition to roll out several hundred ultra-fast charging stations along European motorways.

CLEVER, which is owned by a group of Danish utilities and runs charging networks in Denmark, Sweden and Germany, wants to extend its network to France, Britain and Italy with E.ON.

The firm, which unlike EV-Box and ChargePoint does not make its own hardware, is also still looking for other partners. "We want to connect cities so that you can easily drive across Europe in an electric vehicle," CLEVER Chief Executive Casper Kirketerp-Moeller said.

TALK LESS, INSTALL MORE

Among the oil majors, BP, Shell and have all either announced plans or launched pilot projects for EV charging. Few people, however, expect them to become serious contenders for a business that would effectively curb demand for their chief product: oil.

BP did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Shell said it did not make economic sense yet to equip petrol stations fully with EV charging points.

"People like Shell and Total talk a lot, but nothing happens. We are putting the grid connection in place," said Michiel Langezaal, founder and chief executive of Fastned, which has 63 EV charging stations in the Netherlands.

Leasing plots of land, the group wants to raise 100 million euros over the next two years to branch out into Germany, Belgium, France and Britain. So far it gets the stations from Swiss ABB but is also in talks with ChargePoint.

Unlike utilities and charging station startups, electric vehicle makers see fast charging networks not as a profit centre, but as a loss-leader needed to persuade customers that electric vehicles can drive across continents.

That seems to work for some.

Tesla, for example, operates a proprietary charging network throughout Europe, mainly in hotels, but it is stretched thinly - in the Ile de France region around Paris it has just a handful of "superchargers".

This year, the group's market valuation surpassed that of General Motors, making it the biggest U.S. carmaker by that measure.

"Tesla has never been in the black, but had enormous growth," said Elke Temme, who co-heads the e-mobility unit of Germany's Innogy.

"Going forward, however, the business must pay off."

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(Adds company news, futures)

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures were down 0.18percent ahead of the cash market open on Thursday.

* GVC HOLDINGS: Online gambling firm GVC Holdings, which hasexpanded rapidly through a series of acquisitions, said it expects core annualearnings to top market estimates after first-half gaming revenue rose.

* SPIRE HEALTHCARE: Spire Healthcare said first-half profit slumped75 percent, hurt by a charge relating to a legal settlement and start-up costsat its new hospital in Nottingham.

* BRITAIN-FUNDS: Britain's markets watchdog said it has asked the UKcompetition authorities to conduct a study into investment consultants, sayingit has serious concerns about the sector.

* NEXT: British clothing retailer Next nudged its full-year salesand profit guidance higher on Thursday after seeing an improvement in trading inthe last three months, helped by demand for its directory business.

* GLAXOSMITHKLINE: A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel onWednesday voted 11-0 that the safety and efficacy of GlaxoSmithKline'sshingles vaccine warrants approval for its use in adults aged 50 andover.

* LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE: London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) hasagreed to buy an additional stake of up to 6.8 percent in its clearing arm LCHfrom some of its minority shareholders, the company said in a statement onWednesday.

* OIL: Oil prices on Thursday held most of their gains of around 2 percentfrom the previous session, buoyed after the International Energy Agency raisedits forecast for growth in global oil demand.

* GOLD: Gold edged down on Thursday to its lowest in nearly two weeks onwaning risk aversion, and as the dollar steadied ahead of U.S. consumerinflation data that could offer clues on the timing of further interest ratehikes.

* BRITAIN-EU: Britain will reject "protectionist" agendas from the EuropeanUnion in favour of "forward-leaning" proposals when it comes to supervisingcross-border financial markets after Brexit, UK finance minister Philip Hammondsaid on Wednesday.

* EX-DIVS: No FTSE 100 companies will go ex-dividend onThursday.

* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.28 percent at 7,379 points onWednesday, as the British currency briefly surged to $1.3329.

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> Other business headlinesMultimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:* 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com(Reporting by Harish Bhaskar)

** Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay signalled it hadno intention of selling German department store chain Kaufhof,after people familiar with the matter said Austrian real estatecompany Signa Holding was considering a bid.

** Chinese conglomerate CEFC will buy a 14.16 percent stakein Russian oil producer Rosneft from a consortium ofGlencore and the Qatar Investment Authority in a movethat further strengthens the energy partnership between Moscowand Beijing.

** Australian packaging company Amcor Ltd isconsidering a takeover of rival Bemis Co, Bloombergreported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

** A private equity firm backed by French luxury goods giantLVMH has invested in South Korean startup sunglassmaker Gentle Monster on Thursday, banking on the Korean popculture boom to fuel sales of the country's luxury brands.

** Trinity Mirror, the publisher of the DailyMirror, said it was in talks to buy Richard Desmond's Northern &Shell titles, including the Daily Express and the Star tabloid.(Compiled by Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru)

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LONDON: Uber will cease using diesel cars in London by the end of 2019 and the vast majority of rides will be in electric or hybrid vehicles by then, the taxi app said on Friday.

At the moment the company says around half of all the journey miles completed in the British capital are undertaken with greener vehicles on the firm's standard low-cost UberX service, which lets customers book journeys on their smartphone.

Several carmakers have announced plans in recent months to electrify a large proportion of their new cars, with Volvo becoming the first major carmaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine.

Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040, replicating plans by France and cities such as Madrid, Mexico City and Athens.

Uber, which has about 40,000 London drivers, will only offer electric or hybrid models on UberX by the turn of the decade and plans to do the same by 2022 nationwide.

"Air pollution is a growing problem and we’re determined to play our part in tackling it with this bold plan," said Uber's Head of UK Cities, Fred Jones.

"Londoners already know many cars on our app are hybrids, but we want to go much further and go all electric in the capital," he said.

Globally, Uber has endured a tumultuous few months after a string of scandals involving allegations of sexism and bullying at the company, leading to investor pressure which forced out CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick.

In London, the firm has faced criticism from unions, lawmakers and traditional black cab drivers over working conditions.

Later this month, it will appeal a decision by British judges who have ruled that the app should treat two of its drivers as workers and pay them the minimum wage and holiday pay.

The capital's transport regulator will also decide in September on how much Uber needs to pay to renew its licence.

Uber said on Friday that it will help its drivers who want to switch to greener cars with a more than 150 million-pound ($197 million) fund, paying up to 5,000 pounds per upgrade from a petrol or diesel vehicle.

Uber will start building the fund next month with a 2-million pound investment with a further 35 pence added from each fare taken in London.

It will also offer the first 1,000 Londoners who scrap an older diesel car, 1,500 pounds in credit to use on Uber.

LONDON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - European shares rose for a secondday on Thursday following heavy losses on jitters over NorthKorea but posted a third straight month of decline, while aprofit warning from Carrefour sank the retail sector.

Also buoying the market was a Reuters report that rapidgains in the euro, which helped drag the STOXX to a six-monthlow this week, were worrying a growing number of ECBpolicymakers, raising the chance asset purchases will be phasedout only slowly.

Carrefour shares fell 13 percent, their biggestdaily drop in 20 years, after the French supermarket chainwarned 2017 profit could decline by 12 percent and cut its salesgrowth target.

The retail index has been one of theworst-performing in Europe this year as competition andstructural pressures mount.

"It's been a tough time for the sector, with the more macrotheme that Amazon is slowly eating everyone's lunch, thoughthat's not the case in Europe to the same extent as the U.S.,"said Paul Harper, equity strategist at DNB Bank.

"Another problem is that the retail sector is relativelyhighly priced, so there's not really much room fordisappointment," he added.

Pernod Ricard shares slipped 1.9 percent after theworld's second-biggest spirits group said currency exchangewould be a bigger weight on earnings than previouslyexpected.

Chipmakers AMS and Dialog Semiconductorrose 5.1 and 4.3 percent respectively as the suppliers tosmartphone maker Apple benefited from increasedinvestor enthusiasm ahead of the next iPhone release, a tradersaid.

Though banking stocks helped stoke gains onThursday, they suffered their worst monthly losses since Junelast year when Britain's vote to exit the EU roiled markets.

The STOXX 600 ended in the red for a third month.

While a global consensus has formed this year aroundstronger prospects for European equities, the region’s mainbenchmarks have slipped in the summer as company earnings weremeasured up against lofty expectations and a surging euro reinedstocks back.

"You can explain a significant chunk of the dip by thecurrency," DNB Bank's Harper said.

"Consensus earnings for the MSCI Europe peaked in mid-Mayand estimates started lowering in the second quarter as analystshad to mark to market their currency assumptions."

* PREMIER OIL: North Sea-focused Premier Oil has raised its 2017production forecast by up to 7 percent on the back of a forecast-beatingperformance at its fields that also improved its cash flow and helped it paydown debt.

* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and ExxonMobil announced they were curbing some oil and gas output on Wednesdayat facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a storm expected to hit the Texascoast later this week.

* STONEGATE PUB: Stonegate Pub Company on Thursday will take adecision on a 100 million pounds takeover of Revolution Bars, Sky Newsreported on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/2g6mbWQ

* OIL: Oil was steady on Thursday, holding gains from the previous sessionafter another fall in U.S. crude inventories indicated a tighter market, and asa tropical storm was heading for oil producing facilities in the Gulf ofMexico.

* EX-DIVS: Carnival, London Stock Exchange Group, Mondi, Paddy Power Betfair and Prudential Plc will tradewithout entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 2.32points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations

* The UK blue chip FTSE 100 index ended flat at 7,382.65 points onWednesday, as a sharp fall for advertiser WPP was offset by gains inmining shares, which extended a strong run, and a buoyant healthsector.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

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VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's Transport Minister Joerg Leichtfried said on Tuesday he had agreed with carmakers to update the software of 600,000 diesel cars to reduce pollution following a similar deal struck in Germany after a large-scale emissions scandal.

Leichtfried said the deal also included extra payments to buyers of more environmentally friendly cars. He said that for potential buyers of electric cars all available financial help could add up to around 10,000 euros ($11,750) per vehicle.

The exact amount of incentives, which will come in addition to existing government sweeteners for e-car buyers, will be decided and paid by the carmakers depending on the model of the vehicle exchanged for an old car, the spokesman of Austrian car importers association Guenther Kerle said.

VW, Mercedes, Renault and possibly BMW will undertake the software updates, and the others will just take part in the incentives programme, the ministry said.

German politicians and car bosses agreed earlier this month to overhaul engine software on 5.3 million diesel cars to try to repair the industry's battered reputation.

However, environmentalists said the plan - almost two years after Volkswagen admitted to cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests - was too little, too late.

The Austrian software update, which would take until spring next year and which carmakers say can reduce toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 25-30 percent, is the same as in Germany, Kerle said.

Critics of the German plan have said software updates would only result in a cut of about 2-3 percent of emissions.

Leichtfried and Kerle said there was no agreement on hardware updates, but that this would be discussed at future meetings.

($1 = 0.8503 euros)

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla. Editing by Jane Merriman and David Evans)

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SAN FRANCISCO: U.S. self-driving car startup NuTonomy hopes to launch a paid, commercial ride service in Singapore as soon as the second quarter of next year, NuTonomy Chief Executive Karl Iagnemma said on Friday.

Ride services companies are expected to be one of the most important markets for self-driving cars, especially in early years of adoption, when the cost of the technology will likely rule out mass adoption.

Several companies including Alphabet Inc's Waymo and Uber Technologies Inc are testing self-driving cars at various locations around the world.

NuTonomy, which currently has a test service in Singapore with southeast Asian ride services partner Grab, plans to charge riders for the new commercial service in Singapore, albeit still with a human driver ready to take over if needed, as is done today in most tests.

Software firm NuTonomy, which works with several car companies including Renault SA, had said it planned to launch commercial service next year, without being more specific on timing. Iagnemma in an interview said he hoped paid self-driving rides would start in the second quarter, although it could be the third or fourth.

NuTonomy also plans to launch a test service with U.S. ride service firm Lyft in Boston later this year.

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By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World equity markets and U.S. bond yields fell while gold rose on Thursday as investors favoured safe-haven investments amid scepticism U.S. President Donald Trump, roiled in controversy, would achieve his economic agenda.

Adding to investor concerns was news that a van had slammed into crowds in the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing 13 people, according to media reports, in an attack police were treating as a terrorism.

The U.S. dollar clung to a tiny gain and U.S. Treasury yields fell on worries Trump will be unable to deliver on campaign promises such as tax reform, even as the White House knocked down speculation that Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, would resign.

A crisis deepened over Trump's response to violence on Saturday in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville, spurred by a white nationalist protest against the removal of a Confederate statue.

After Trump blamed counter-protesters as much as white nationalists for clashes that left one woman dead, an exodus of business executives from Trump's advisory councils on Wednesday fuelled speculation other officials, such as Cohn, would leave.

Trump on Thursday again decried the removal of monuments to the pro-slavery Civil War Confederacy at the centre of the protests which have inflamed U.S. racial tensions.

Rather than a single catalyst, a range of worries prompted investors to take profit, including the U.S. relationship with North Korea, the Barcelona attack, as well as domestic turmoil, according to Dennis Dick, proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.

"The market is starting to get a little impatient with the Trump situation. He can't get any bills passed. You don't know what he's going to tweet about next."

While the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index hit a session low around the same time as the Barcelona attack's death toll headlines, Dick noted that U.S. investors generally tend not to trade heavily on overseas news and are more concerned with Trump.

Earlier on Thursday, the dollar was pushed higher versus the euro after the European Central Bank expressed caution about removing monetary stimulus too soon following a recent bounce in the euro, according to records of its last meeting.

This was a day after minutes released from the Federal Reserve showed some policymakers cautioning against rate increases while U.S. inflation remained weak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 204.03 points, or 0.93 percent, to 21,820.84, the S&P 500 lost 29.53 points, or 1.20 percent, to 2,438.58 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 98.96 points, or 1.56 percent, to 6,246.15.

The dollar index rose 0.06 percent, with the euro down 0.24 percent to $1.174, after hitting a three-week low following indications that some within the ECB were concerned about its gains.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.59 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.57 percent.

Oil prices rose on expectations of a hefty stockpile draw at the U.S. oil storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, reversing Wednesday's loses, which were spurred by data showing U.S. crude output at its highest in two years.

U.S. crude rose 0.62 percent to $47.07 per barrel and Brent was last at $50.93, up 1.31 percent on the day.

** Geely Automobile said it has no plan to buyFiat Chrysler, dismissing media speculation theChinese company was interested in the Italian car maker.

** Hedge fund Elliott Management has raised its stake in BHPBilliton, to 5 percent, bolstering its positionto agitate for change at the top global miner, but signaled itssupport for the incoming chairman.

** Britain's Prudential sold its broker-dealernetwork in the United States for $325 million to LPL Financial, the insurer said.

** Swiss chemicals maker Clariant AG and U.S.-basedHuntsman Corp said U.S. regulators had asked for moreinformation on their proposed merger, but they were confident ofstill closing the deal by the end of this year.

** Private equity house EMR Capital has purchased an 80percent stake in a Zambian copper mine from African RainbowMinerals (ARM) and its partner for $97.10 million, ARMsaid.

** Canadian miner Crystallex is seeking to seize shares in asubsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA that owns U.S.refiner Citgo as part of a dispute over Venezuela's 2008takeover of the Las Cristinas gold mine, according to courtfilings.

** Indonesia's Pertamina said that tax issues related toimporting crude oil into the Southeast Asian country couldscupper plans by the state oil firm to take stakes in two energyblocks controlled by Russia's Rosneft.

** Ryanair will continue to grow in Germany, eventhough it sees any plans by Lufthansa to take overparts of insolvent rival Air Berlin as a conspiracy tohalt the Irish carrier's expansion, its chief executive toldReuters.

** Saudi Aramco has received bids frominternational engineering firms to expand the Hawiyah gas plant,industry sources said on Wednesday as the state oil giantcontinues spending to expand its core business.

** Tour operator Thomas Cook and its German airlineCondor are prepared to play an active role in a restructuring ofinsolvent carrier Air Berlin, Thomas Cook said onWednesday.

LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - European shares fell back onWednesday as geopolitical tensions sent all major benchmarksinto negative territory, accompanied by a slight uptick involatility in what is typically a quiet period of summer tradingfor the market.

Risky assets were hit globally after North Korea said it wasconsidering plans to attack Guam, which has a large U.S.military base.

On a day which also marked 10 years since the start of theglobal financial crisis, the pan-European STOXX 600ended the session 0.7 percent lower, while Euro zone stocksand blue-chips dropped more than 1percent.

France's CAC 40 fell 1.4 percent after a car hit agroup of soldiers in a Parisian suburb in what was said to be adeliberate act, while Germany's DAX was also down 1.1percent as bond yields fell.

The VSTOXX, Europe's main gauge of equity marketinvestor anxiety, stirred to reach its highest level in twoweeks, though still remained at subdued levels, while its U.S.counterpart - the Vix - touched a one-month high.

"The by-product of quantitative easing, combined withultra-low interest rate policies, has been the dampening down ofvolatility," Kelso said, adding that an increase in volatilityspikes was likely in the future.

Gold miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillowere among the only gainers on the FTSE, up 2.8to 4.9 percent as investors rushed to the safety of gold.

Overall, results season has been strong, analysts andinvestors said. Earnings growth for the MSCI Euro zone companiesreporting this quarter is tracking at 15.7 percent, with 76percent of results in so far.

"I still think there's more good news than bad news [inresults] because you're still seeing underlying economiesgrowing at a decent clip," said Andrew King, head of Europeanequities at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

"On a longer term view you're now starting to see a breakwith the history of constant earnings downgrades," he added.

The healthcare sector declined just 0.3 percent thanks tostrong gains from the world's top maker of diabetes drugs, NovoNordisk, up 7.9 percent after beating second-quarterprofit forecasts.

Scout24 also jumped 4.7 percent to a seven-monthhigh after the German online classifieds company said it had wonback customers in the second quarter. Its shareshad fallen sharply after a broker downgrade last week.

Gold miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillowere among the only gainers on the FTSE, up 1.9 to 2.3percent as investors rushed to the safety of gold.

Banks meanwhile suffered heavy losses, down 1.2percent.

Results also drove some sharp moves lower.

Chemicals group Brenntag led fallers, down 5.5percent after second quarter results undershot expectations."M&A seems to be the main driver while organic growth remainsunsatisfying," said Baader Helvea analysts.

Overall, results season has been strong, analysts andinvestors said. Earnings growth for the MSCI Euro zone companiesreporting this quarter is tracking at 15.7 percent, with 76percent of results in so far.

"I still think there's more good news than bad news [inresults] because you're still seeing underlying economiesgrowing at a decent clip," said Andrew King, head of Europeanequities at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

"On a longer term view you're now starting to see a breakwith the history of constant earnings downgrades," he added.

Scout24 was a stand-out performer, jumping 6.6percent to a seven-month high after the German onlineclassifieds company said it had won back customers in the secondquarter. Its shares had fallen sharply after abroker downgrade last week.

Gold miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillowere among the only gainers on the FTSE, up 1.9 to 2.3percent as investors rushed to the safety of gold.

Banks meanwhile suffered heavy losses, down 1.2percent.

Results also drove some sharp moves lower.

Chemicals group Brenntag led fallers, down 5.5percent after second quarter results undershot expectations."M&A seems to be the main driver while organic growth remainsunsatisfying," said Baader Helvea analysts.

Overall, results season has been strong, analysts andinvestors said. Earnings growth for the MSCI Euro zone companiesreporting this quarter is tracking at 15.7 percent, with 76percent of results in so far.

"I still think there's more good news than bad news [inresults] because you're still seeing underlying economiesgrowing at a decent clip," said Andrew King, head of Europeanequities at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

"On a longer term view you're now starting to see a breakwith the history of constant earnings downgrades," he added.

Scout24 was a stand-out performer, jumping 6.6percent to a seven-month high after the German onlineclassifieds company said it had won back customers in the secondquarter. Its shares had fallen sharply after abroker downgrade last week.

Dutch oil firm SBM Offshore gained 4.7 percent, ontrack for its best day in more than a year, after its first-halfresults beat expectations with higher investments in deep seaprojects.

(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

]]>

(Adding company news, futures)

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is expected to open 19 points higher at7531.2 on Monday, according to financial spreadbetters, with futures up 0.17 percentahead of the cash market open.

* PADDY POWER: Gambling firm Paddy Power Betfair said on Monday it has appointedPeter Jackson as its new chief executive to replace Breon Corcoran, who is stepping down fromthe role he took up in February last year when Paddy Power merged with online betting exchangeBetfair.

* MONITISE: Monitise has offered its backing for a takeover of the Britishfinancial services technology company by Fiserv after the U.S. financial technologyprovider made an improved offer that values the firm at about 75 million pounds.

* PAYSAFE: Payments processing company Paysafe Group has backed a 3 billion pound($3.9 billion) takeover offer from a consortium of funds managed by Blackstone and CVCCapital Partners, the latest in a string of deals in the sector.

* UK BOOKMAKERS: British finance minister Philip Hammond has blocked government attempts tocurb high-stakes gambling machines commonly found in betting shops in order to preserve taxrevenues, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Saturday.

* TULLOW: The leaders of Tanzania and Uganda laid a foundation stone on Saturday for theconstruction of a $3.55 billion-crude export pipeline that would pump Ugandan oil forinternational markets. Total is one of the owners of Ugandan oilfields, alongside China's Cnoocand Britain's Tullow Oil.

* UK REAL ESTATE: The directors of small British construction businesses are lending themmore money to plug a funding gap as banks set tighter lending criteria and major contractorsdelay payments, a survey showed on Monday.

* GOLD: Gold held steady near two-week lows on Monday, with the dollar remaining supportedby expectations of monetary tightening in the United States following stronger-than-expectedjobs data last week.

* LME COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper on Monday fell half a percent $6,343 atonne by 0137 GMT, having earlier jumped to $6,430.50, less than $10 below its most recent-twoyear high. Volumes were roughly treble the average for early Asia, around 5500 lots.

* The UK's top share index enjoyed its best week so far in 2017 as gains among big defensiveoverseas earners on Friday outweighed falls for homebuilding stocks. Britain's blue chip FTSE100 index ended the session up 0.5 percent at 7,511.71 points.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlinesMultimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:* 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com(Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru)

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Tuesday,looking to recover after two straight months of losses, withcorporate earnings reports spurring brisk trading ahead of atypically sleepy period for markets over the summer.

Earnings updates dominated the action, with oil heavyweightBP rising more than 3 percent and boosting the oil & gassector after beating forecasts as new projects supportedproduction."BP has covered the cash component of the dividend with freecash flow for the second straight quarter and the Upstreambusiness is performing well," analysts at Jefferies said in anote.

The European second-quarter earnings season is nearing thehalfway mark and so far 60 percent of MSCI Europe firms have metor beaten analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reutersdata.

Earnings per share growth in Europe was tracking at about 13percent, including a significant boost from energy firms,according to latest data from JPMorgan.

"You have seen some signs of (the) green shoots of recoverywithin the European economy and that, of course, is good forcompanies," Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown,said.

"Valuation is not challenging, but the company's ability tode-lever the balance sheet remains a concern."

British companies were the top gainers, with aerospace anddefence firm Rolls-Royce shooting up 7 percent afterbeating expectations with a rise in first-half profit thanks toa step-up in production.

It was joined by testing firm Intertek Group,insurer Direct Line and Dutch chemicals company DSM, which all gained between 5.7 percent to 9 percent onthe back of well-received results.

Lender CYBG was the top-gaining bank, rocketing6.7 percent on strong third-quarter results. Financials were thebiggest contributors to gains on the STOXX.

While moves among fallers were fairly muted, precious metalsminer Fresnillo was the biggest faller in the basicresources sector, dropping more than 1.5 percent afterits first-half update.

Tech firm ASM International was weighed down by adowngrade to "equal-weight" from Morgan Stanley, which citedcurrency-related headwinds looking ahead to 2018.(Reporting by Kit Rees, Editing by Vikram Subhedar and SusanThomas)

* WORLDPAY: British payments firms Worldpay said on Tuesday that itsU.S. suitor Vantiv VNTV.N has been granted a week-long extension to Aug. 8 tomake a firm takeover bid or walk away for six months.

* BP: BP beat expectations with a second-quarter net profit of $684million on Tuesday although the result more than halved from the first quarterafter a large charge for unsuccessful exploration in Angola.

* ROLLS-ROYCE: Rolls-Royce reported a better-than-expected rise infirst-half underlying pretax profit on Tuesday as it delivered a 27 percentincrease in large civil aerospace engines and said it had manufactured them moreefficiently.

* MAN GROUP: British hedge fund firm Man Group said on Tuesday thatits assets under management rose 19 percent in the first half of 2017, boostedby new investment and the acquisition of real estate fund Aalto, which added$1.8 billion.

* ACACIA: The Tanzanian government and Barrick Gold have startedtalks to resolve a tax dispute involving the Canadian company's subsidiaryAcacia Mining, the president's office said on Monday.

* BHP: BHP Billiton on Tuesday denied commentary in aBrazilian newspaper that it has agreed to sell its stake in the Samarco iron oremine to its partner Vale.

* GOLD: Gold prices held steady near seven-week highs early Tuesday, afterregistering their biggest monthly gain in five in July, supported by a slump inthe U.S. dollar and political uncertainty. Spot gold was nearly flat at$1,269.30 per ounce at 0358 GMT. It rose 2.2 percent last month, its biggestmonthly gain since February.

* COPPER: Copper has finally emerged from its extended winter hibernation,breaking out of an eight-month trading range to hit two-year highs. London MetalExchange three-month copper broke through the top of that range at$6,200 last Tuesday and hasn't looked back since. This morning it touched $6,430per tonne, a level not seen since May 2015.

* UK ECONOMY - British businesses are their least optimistic about theeconomy in six months and their overall confidence levels remain slightly belowaverage, a survey showed on Monday, adding to a lacklustre outlook for theeconomy.

* Strong results from heavyweight bank HSBC helped British blue-chips holdon to gains on Monday, putting the index ahead for the month of July, thoughtobacco stocks tumbled further following a new U.S. regulatory clamp down. TheFTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent, and ended July 0.8 percent higher,outperforming European benchmarks which finished the month in the red.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlinesMultimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:* 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com(Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru)